con·tem·po·rar·y - Modern times in its generic sense, living, occurring, or existing, at the same time; often also used as a synonym for "modern"
Ma·lay·sia - A country of southeast Asia consisting of the southern Malay Peninsula and the northern part of the island of Borneo.

Kota Kinabalu: Filipina Daliat Tabun, 57, has spent more years of her life in Sabah than in her village of Ubian in Tawi-Tawi province in her Philippine homeland, but has no regrets about it.

She set foot on Sabah soil about 30 years ago, having fled the civil war in Mindanao, and fell in love with the Land Below the Wind which she found to be "a land of opportunity".

Today, Daliat is more than an ordinary foreign visitor in Sabah. She is a "very special foreigner" in Sabah by virtue of being the holder of the IMM13 document.

The IMM13 document is a special pass issued by the Immigration Department to genuine Filipino refugees displaced by the war in Mindanao to enable them to stay in Sabah.

Daliat is also on the threshold of acquiring permanent resident (PR) status after having been in Sabah for three decades.

"I consider myself lucky because I was given the privilege to possess the IMM13 document. This was my dream and the dream of thousands of Filipino refugees in Sabah," she said when met at the Telipok Refugee Resettlement Camp located about 20km from here.

The Telipok camp and three other settlements in the State - in Kinarut, Tawau and Sandakan - were established by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for refugees of the war between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the early 1970's.

Having been in Sabah for three decades, Daliat has given up any intention of going back to her ancestral land even if given the chance to do so.

"Who wants to go back to Tawi-Tawi? We do not have anything anymore in Tawi-Tawi. What is left for us to cherish is the sweet memory while we were young in Tawi-Tawi," said the mother of seven children. Daliat had married her childhood sweetheart in Tawi-Tawi whom she just calls Husin.

Her 24-year-old son Najir, who was sitting beside her, butted in: "I'm not Filipino tuan (Sir)...saya orang Sabah bah saya lahir sini (I'm Sabahan because I was born here)."

Najir, a school dropout and an ardent fan of the popular Malaysian singer Datuk Siti Nurhaliza, is unemployed and helps his family at their grocery store at the camp. All of Daliat's children, aged between 14 and 32, were born and raised in Sabah.

"Our children were born in Malaysia but they too are only holders of the IMM13 document. Our fate is always at the mercy of the Immigration Department as we need to renew the document every year for a fee of RM90 each.

"This is our destiny as refugees. But what is bothering us now is the upcoming large-scale operation to flush out illegal immigrants, including those from the Philippines," she said.

Although the massive operation is for now targeting illegal immigrants, Filipinos holding the IMM13 document are worried about their future, all the same.

"Today, we are lucky the Malaysian Government only wants to flush out illegal immigrants. Tomorrow, it could be a different story. We don't know, exactly, the Government's next course of action. Our future is actually hanging in the balance," she said.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the operation to repatriate between 100,000 and 150,000 illegal immigrants in Sabah would start in August, and it would begin in the West Coast of the State before moving towards the East Coast.

Daliat's worries stem from the fact that the granting of the IMM13 document is only a temporary respite, especially for those displaced by the war in the southern Philippines, with the condition that they would go back to their country of origin when the situation there returns to normalcy.

Her family's predicament is just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of other Filipino refugees, who are in possession of the IMM13 document and live in different resettlement camps throughout Sabah, are hoping for a change of fortune.

Locals and State leaders alike are wondering how their life will be by 2020 when Malaysia attains developed nation status.

Politicians, including leaders from the component parties of the ruling State coalition and State opposition parties, have voiced their concern on the matter, with some capitalising on the issue of illegal immigrants and the IMM13 document to criticise the Federal Government, saying "there is no such thing as permanent refugees as the situation in the southern Philippines has returned to normalcy."

These politicians hope the Federal Government, especially the Immigration Department, will rectify the anomaly pertaining to the position of the IMM13 document holders in Sabah.

In fact, there was a proposal to consider the possibility of giving permanent resident (PR) status to this group of refugees. For example, Minister in the Prime Ministers Department Datuk Seri Mohamad Nazri Abdul Aziz announced on June 26 last year that the Federal Government planned to issue PR status to the 10,000 to 15,000 refugees in the State.

However, the Sabah Government dismissed the Federal proposal outright, asserting that the State Government and the local people alike should have been consulted before a decision was made on the issue.

On May 28 this year, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said it was estimated that there were 440,000 foreigners in Sabah, of which 230,000 were legal migrant workers and 130,000 illegal immigrants and the rest Filipino refugees.

This underscores the seriousness of the illegal immigrant problem as well as the need to have a clear strategic plan, especially with regard to the future of the Filipino refugees in Sabah.

Local political analyst Clarence Sinsua said the Government should set a time frame for resolution of the problem of the IMM13 holders and decide "what is best for this group of people once and for all".

He said the Government, in the past, had set a time frame for resolution of the problem of the Vietnamese refugees in Peninsular Malaysia and then closed their resettlement camp on Bidong Island off Terengganu.

"I don't see any reason why the Federal Government cannot do the same in Sabah. Well, locals understand their plight and some of the Filipino refugees have assimilated into the local community in Sabah. But the people of Sabah are eager to see a lasting solution to this perennial problem," he said.

Sinsua said ironically when people talk about the refugees, it was rarely in positive terms and this could be linked to the steady increase of crime and other social problems, such as overcrowding in hospitals, poverty, stateless children and fake identity cards.

"But we must bear in mind that Filipino refugees are human beings, too, who deserve fair treatment because most of them came here to look for a job and earn a living," he said.

He said the number of illiterate children of Filipino refugees is very high and warranted more attention from the Government, not to mention the "role of Filipino refugees" in the political arena, especially phantom voters, as alleged by the opposition political parties.

A recent thesis of the Asian Centre For Journalism (ACFJ) at Ateneo De Manila University on Filipino refugees in Sabah cited some of the reasons for the refugee children failing to enrol at school as having no proper documents or Malaysian identity card, financial problems and lack of awareness among parents on the importance of education.

For them, it is pointless to pursue an education and they would rather work at the earliest age to earn some money for the family. In this respect, their parents should be totally blamed as they themselves are illiterate and attuned to a culture of complacency - just to survive.

Consumers Association of Sabah (Cash) President Datuk Patrick Sindu said unlike the illegal immigrants problem, the issue of the Filipino refugees was not easy to resolve.

He said it needed the full commitment of Malaysia's Federal Government via a direct link or negotiation between the Malaysian and the Philippine governments.

He suggested that the State Government conduct a thorough filtering exercise in determining the status of all Filipino refugees in the State.

For now, Filipino refugees holding the IMM13 document are enjoying their stay untouched in Sabah but, surely, somewhere in the recesses of their mind they would have that dream of catching a glimpse of the wonderland of Tawi-Tawi, the home of their ancestors.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was arrested today at about 1pm as he was fast reaching his house, by UTKs and bundled into a Police Pajero, as per reported by The Sun. Barely 15 hours after he had a live tv debate with the Information Minister, Datuk Shabery Cheek.

While Raja Petra Kamaruddin, the editor of Malaysia-Today, has been asked to surrender to the Kuala Lumpur contingent police headquarters at 10am tomorrow, where he is expectedto be charged with criminal defamation with regards to his statutory declaration on the murder of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaaribuu, write The Star.

Well there you have it, where in the world of politics, 24 hours is a long time, and anything can happen.

Kota Kinabalu: The Youth and Sports Ministry is taking steps to tackle the case of Sabahan youths conned by syndicates of employment agents to do menial work and girls being forced into sex slavery in Singapore.

Minister Peter Pang said the ministry is concerned over one such case highlighted by Daily Express on July 14.

"We are currently trying to get further information from enforcement authorities at the Federal level about the case considering the matter involves bilateral ties of two countries, Malaysia and Singapore.

"We will also ask the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore to procure more information and look into the case as well," he said on Tuesday.

Pang was reacting to a Daily Express front-page report quoting a 21-year-old Sabahan who ended up being forced to do manual labour in Singapore, instead of in the hotel sector as promised.

According to the youth, there are some 70 Sabahans youths facing a similar predicament who are living in an apartment building in Singapore with the girls forced into prostitution and the boys doing menial work.

He urged youth associations in Sabah to educate the youths by reminding particularly those living in rural areas on the modus operandi of syndicates that are taking advantage on gullible and na"ve young people to work in Singapore or other countries.

"I am also urging the youths to not easily believe 'hearsay' or 'gimmicks of promises' uttered by those so-called agents to attract their interest.

"The best thing to do is for the youths to check the authenticity and reputation of the employment agents with authorities like the Sabah Labour Department, Human Resources Department and Ministry of Human Resources at Federal level.

"Do not simply believe what they (dubious agents) say but seek advice from the authorities," he said.

He also reminded parents who have not heard from their children working overseas to lodge police reports and other relevant authorities for immediate action.

Kota Kinabalu: The people in Sabah should examine the real motivation for BN component parties from Sabah frantically calling for the ouster of SAPP from the coalition, said its Secretary-General, Datuk Richard Yong.

He said SAPP is of the view that these parties, including PBS and LDP, could not wait for SAPP to be ousted so they will have the government positions vacated by SAPP representatives and dished out to their leaders.

He said SAPP's intention to move a motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister was not an isolated move to gain notoriety, but in cognizance with its struggle for the rights of Malaysians in Sabah.

"That the Prime Minister has been ineffective and paying only lip-service to Sabah's interests is known by and acknowledged by all Malaysians, particularly those parties in Sabah," he said in a statement, Tuesday.

According to him, BN leaders, including from Umno, LDP and PBS, have at one time or another gone on record calling on the PM to act more expediently on Sabah issues, including those related to illegal immigrants, regional development imbalances and poverty eradication.

"SAPP expects leaders from Sabah who have been appointed to positions in the Federal Government not to lose sight of their obligations to the Sabah electorate who make their positions possible.

"It is disappointing that leaders like Dr Maximus Ongkili and Datuk VK Liew have become 'federalised' or 'domesticated'Éthey have become apologists for Kuala Lumpur.

"So eager are they willing to please that a learned and supposedly cultured person like Dr Maximus went on record to describe a component party as a member of the canine species," he said.

Yong said SAPP doubted if PBS and LDP still hold to their commitment to fight for Sabah rights and Sabahan interests.

"If indeed they still do, they should find commonality with SAPP's move which is aimed at resolving long standing and grave issues. They would have second thoughts about calling for SAPP's blood.

"Instead, they should acknowledge the fact that (as uttered by PBS Information Chief Johnny Mositun) the parties are pursuing the same objectives through different paths," he said.

Towards this end, he said SAPP concludes that PBS and LDP's intensity in wanting SAPP sacked from BN, or calling for SAPP to quit the coalition, is a simple act of self- preservation.

He cited the resignation of PBS Supreme Council member and a fervent campaigner of the illegal immigrant issue, Dr Chong Eng Leong recently because he was told by the PBS leadership to stop talking.

"PBS elected representatives and other leaders have been conspicuously quiet in recent weeks. One is inclined to conclude that a gag order has been slapped on them even on issues of Sabah rights. Is this not a reflection of the PBS wavering on its commitment? Is it not a clear indication of self preservation?"

He said SAPP also wants to alert the people in Sabah to the fact that the recent promises to inject massive development funds into Sabah may just be "attempts to pull wool over their eyes in this climate in which a government is rapidly losing the people's trust.

"For example, what has become of the RM1 billion promised by the Prime Minister several months ago?

"Is there any truth that the money has mostly been disbursed through the various Umno divisions in a move to pacify these grassroots leaders and to prevent a revolt in view of the Umno elections this December?" he asked.

Yong said the recent announcement by the Minister of Education on the RM700 million for education projects in Sabah seemed a little hard to comprehend in light of recent newspaper reports about children in Kemabong risking their lives crossing a river on bamboo rafts in order to attend school.

"Four consecutive state administrations, including this current one, have failed to give these children the convenience of a suspension bridge costing only tens of thousands of ringgit; and here we have a promise to inject millions into rural schools," he said.

Kota Kinabalu: The claims and counter claims by the "heirs of the Sulu Sultanate" took an interesting turn with all of them stating that they are no longer interested in pursuing the so-called claim on Sabah.

However, while they said they are prepared to surrender their so-called rights over Sabah for a lump sum compensation, one of the more vocal claimants who is not among the nine said he had already withdrawn his claim.

Rodinood Julaspi Kiram II, who claims to be the closest heir to the sultanate, in a statement through his "Executive Secretary and Keeper of the Royal Seal", Dato Seri Putra Eddy T. Sulaiman, Tuesday, confirmed that he has withdrawn his claim altogether.

Previously he had announced to the international media during his "coronation" in Manila a demand for US$20 billion (then RM75 billion) from the Malaysian Government "in order for him to drop the claim."

However, he said he has decided to abandon this claim for good after carefully considering the many implications, which are not conducive to good relations between Malaysia and the Philippines.

"What is important now is the establishment of good relations between the Sultanate of Sulu and the government of Malaysia for mutual benefit. I feel that the Philippine Government should also drop the longstanding, off and on, claim on Sabah as it has been a thorn in the flesh in the relationship between the Philippines and Malaysia.

"What we need now is to move on, to promote harmony, peace and socio-economic developments within the context of Asean, and focus on better diplomatic relations between the two countries. I also strongly feel that we need to act on the social development needs of Sabah and Sulu," he said.

"As someone who has a long and close association with Sabah, I have a strong desire to contribute towards the Malaysian Government for the long-term social development of the people of Sabah with whatever capability I have in the near future."

He said Rodinood is currently in Hong Kong on business and is expected to come to Malaysia next month.

Meanwhile, a "chief negotiator" of the other "nine heirs", Datu Omar Ali Datu Haji Backtiyal, claimed all nine "who are receiving the annual RM5,300 cession money from the Malaysian Government are prepared to surrender their rights over Sabah."

Omar said he had worked hard to get all the nine, who are supposedly recognised by Manila and Kuala Lumpur as the truthful heirs, to co-sign the agreement.

"They are agreeable to surrender their rights once and for all as well as for a lump sum payment of the cession money," he told a press conference, here, Tuesday.

Omar said he managed to get the signatures last year, following advice from former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who, he claimed, asked him to get all the nine to agree before the Malaysian government could enter into a negotiation process.

However, he said after getting the nine heirs to agree, he was unable to get the Malaysian Government to talk.

"It has been a year and still there is no response from the National Security Council and the Prime Minister's office," he said, adding he was worried that the heirs would change their mind.

According to him, the heirs of the late Sultan Mohamat Jamal Al Alam were those named in the Mackaskie Civil Suit 1936 (Dayang Dayang Hadji Piandao Kiram of Jolo Philippines and Eight Others Vs the Government of North Borneo).

He said one of the heirs was Esmail Kiram II is in Sabah for a visit.

Omar said he is a Malaysian and he took the initiative to find a way to resolve once-and-for-all the lingering doubts on Sabah's sovereignty.

"There are still doubts as to why the Malaysian Government is still paying RM5,300 to the heirs," he said, adding that he feared the incident in 1968 that resulted in the Bangkok Talks between Manila and Kuala Lumpur might be repeated. At that time, he said Manila used a ploy to claim Sabah by getting the Crown Prince of the Sulu Sultanate to sign an agreement to hand over the rights to Sabah.

However, he claimed, the ploy did not work as it turned out that the reigning King, Sultan Muhamad Amilrul Ombra Amil Bangsa (1936-1968) who is the husband of Dayang Dayang Piandao, was still alive and never agreed to the plan. It resulted in the failure of the Bangkok Talks, he said, adding that nonetheless such scenario could be repeated if the heirs surrendered the rights to Manila.

"We appeal to the Malaysian government to open the channel of communication and negotiate with the heirs," he said.

Meanwhile, Esmail Kiram II in a Press conference here proposed a mechanism for a joint-undertaking to resolve the refugee and illegal immigrant issue in Sabah with the Sabah State and Federal government of Malaysia. He also supported Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman's call for the setting up of a Philippine Consulate in Sabah as one of the ways to resolve the problems in Sabah and speed up the deportation process of illegals.

He hoped he would be included as a panel member of the committee to address illegal immigrants in order to assist in handling the problem. At the same time, he also proposed a liaison office in Zamboanga, Mindanao to do profiling of the deportees from Sabah.

Esmail said he was also still waiting for the response from the Chief Minister's office and Prime Minister to meet and discuss the proposal with them.

Actually this the root cause of the PTI issue in Sabah, everyone on the street will tell you that an illegal immigrants, if he/she is deported back to his/her home country, it won't be for long before you saw him/her back in Sabah again, as the enforcement is not strict@close one eye@corruption.

Its Deputy Chairperson Christina Liew said Wednesday, the people of Sabah are by now awakened to the fact that Sabah has been taken for granted and problems within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government have not been dealt with seriously and sincerely.

"We must tell the Federal Government uninhibitedly that we have had enough of 'wayang kulit' as far as the PTIs are concerned. If the Federal Government is sincere and serious in resolving our woes, they must have a concrete, effective and sustainable plan, instead of the futile effort of building more detention centres and deportation exercises.

"We need to go to the root of the PTI problem before any reverse take-over happens or else we will be crying over spilt milk," she told reporters.

Liew was commenting on the National Security Council (Sabah) Deputy Director, Major Mohd Rizam Ayob's revelation that 2,000 illegal immigrants are deported monthly but most would be back in Sabah after two weeks.

Describing the repatriation exercises as a total failure, she said such deportation hardly made a dent in the prevailing overwhelming situation.

"So, what difference does it make whether the Government deports them or not. It is a waste of public funds and fails to accomplish the objective."

On the building of more detention centres in Sabah, she said it would not help resolve the decades-old problem.

"If we add the total capacities of detention centres for PTIs, these will house some 8,000 illegals by December this year. Going by this rate when we have more than a million illegals in Sabah, does it mean we need to build more centres to accommodate them?" Liew asked.

Mohd Rizam had said the capacity of illegal immigrant detention facilities in Sabah is to double in December with the opening of two more camps and expansion of an existing one.

Calling for a stringent regulatory system, Liew argued that Sabah cannot be accommodating and feeding such a large number of the transient population (pending deportation) indefinitely and at the expense of the people's welfare.

"As such, we (PKR Sabah) appeal to the Federal Government to also make use of these detention centres as 'transit points' or 'entry points' for future immigrants entering Sabah with proper documents.

"Relevant government departments such as the Immigration, Police, Health, Security and Manpower should be stationed at these entry points for registration of immigrants with documents, health screening and liaison with registered employment agencies.

"Once the arrivals have passed their medical examination and are sponsored by prospective employers, they can then leave the detention centre (together with their employers)," she pointed out.

According to Liew, countries like Hong Kong and Singapore have succeeded in their well-regulated system of handling immigrants by registering and issuing them proper work permits with the co-ordination of relevant authorities.

"There is no reason why the Government cannot do likewise in Sabah, instead of keeping and feeding the immigrants in detention centres.

PTIs who are currently in the State should return to their homeland but those who genuinely want to work here should come back with documents for the government to process their work passes."

She also called on the Federal Government to review the levy policy on immigrants and their employers so that work passes are issued at a minimum cost.

"Employers are reluctant to hire them because of the high cost of levy, which is why many of the immigrants with documents end up as illegals.

But when they are issued with work passes, they can be regulated and controlled, instead of being harassed or hunted down by the authorities.

The Government must consider imposing a lesser levy."

Previously, it cost more than RM1,600 to get a work pass for a maid but the fees have now escalated to about RM3,000. Similarly, an employer in the construction industry or plantation sector has to fork out several thousand ringgit just to guarantee one immigrant. Like Indonesia, Liew said, the Philippines Government must open a consulate or trade office in Sabah to assist its nationals in the documentation process, especially with the street children.

According to Mohd Rizam, if the Philippines' Government does not recognise the Filipinos (in Sabah) as their own nationals, the inmates would have to stay in the detention centre until their case is resolved.

Kota Kinabalu: United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun and Murut Organisation (Upko) wants the enforcement authorities to get tougher with illegal immigrants who sneak back as well as the local people harbouring them in Sabah.

Its Secretary-General Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau said since the country has a law providing for illegal immigrants and locals who harbour them to be caned, this should be made full use of as a deterrent.

"Those illegal immigrants who come back to Sabah, after they were deported to their respective country of origin, and still without a valid travel pass should be caned double or triple the actual number, according to how many times he or she repeatedly came back illegally to Sabah," he said.

The same goes to employers or land and house owners found to be harbouring illegal immigrants, he added.

"Because this (illegal immigrant problem) is a serious problem. We need to be very serious if we want to deal with it effectively," said Madius, adding that foreigners will otherwise have an impression that Malaysia's enforcement authorities are 'weak' or 'so easy'.

Madius said this in response to Deputy Director of National Security Council in Sabah Major Mohd Rizam Ayob saying that Sabahans are also largely to blame for the huge presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah.

He also said repatriation exercises are conducted regularly but that most would be back in two weeks.

Madius said the Immigration Department should also practise what their counterparts are doing in the Philippines that is to have the palm print, instead of just thumb print, of every visiting foreigner.

"The department should also do the same, to have the record of every foreigner who had been arrested and deported to their respective country of originÉto enable them to know how many times the deportee comes back to Malaysia and also to facilitate severe punishment for these repeat offenders," he said.

Madius said the party also does not understand why the authorities did not seriously go after and bring to court those employing or harbouring the illegal immigrants.

"It seems to me the illegal immigrants are telling where they had worked before or where they had stayed before but why didn't the enforcement authorities concerned not go there and charge those employers or land owners or house owners?" he asked.

Describing the meeting and photo session on July 7 as "unfortunate" he said the effect of it was as though the party had back-tracked from the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister.

"Although Dr Chua never mentioned words to the effect that the proposed motion of no confidence had been 'dropped' or 'aborted', her comments were misinterpreted," he said here Wednesday.

"This latest twist makes me sad that our noble struggle has been damaged in the eyes of the people whose hopes for a better future rest with SAPP," he added.

To put things in the right perspective and to reaffirm SAPP's struggle for the people and Sabah, Yong revealed that he had earlier told Chua who is also a SAPP Vice President "to be extremely careful when dealing with some KL leaders, (that) it is like swimming with sharks".

"I had alerted her that we had discovered the tactic of the BN leaders to use her and Deputy President cum Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Raymond Tan to 'split SAPP and isolate Yong Teck Lee'," he said.

He said at first, there were doubts as to why the BN generously gave a long period of 30 days to SAPP to reply its show cause letter.

"Later, it dawned on us in SAPP that the lengthy 30-day period was actually intended to give time to BN's efforts 'to split SAPP and isolate Yong Teck Lee'.

"This is why the move by PBS and LDP for an immediate expulsion of SAPP from BN was not carried.

"BN tacticians wanted SAPP to be split and to lose the support of the people before action is taken against SAPP. BN did not want to repeat their mistake of 1984 when they expelled Usno, which had opposed the federalisation of Labuan.

"In State elections the following year (1985), the BN was almost completely wiped out by PBS and Usno," he said.

Yong said as (Upko President) Tan Sri Bernard Dompok observed last month, Sabahans are a laid back people and unsuspecting.

But in the rough world of federal politics, many earlier Sabahan leaders have been "eaten alive" and came home defeated and disgraced, he claimed.

According to him, from the books "Politics of Federalism" (on Syed Kechik in East Malaysia, 1976) to the banned book "Golden Son of the Kadazan" (on the late Datuk Peter Mojuntin, 1976) and "Harris of Sabah" (1986), The Making of a Malaysian (on Datuk J. Pairin Kitingan, 1991) and countless recollections, Malaysians in Sabah have endured a collective history of betrayals, disappointments and failures.

"I am sure this latest episode will make our Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui a stronger leader who can tell the hard truths to federal leaders, however friendly they might seem on a personal basis."